Railroad track ballast dressing machine



Nov. 7, 1961 G. w. STANTON RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 3, 1958 IINVENTOR. GEORGE W. STANTON Quay.

Nov. 7, 1961 G. w. STANTON 3,007,264

RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 3, 1958 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Hay/M Nov.'7, 1961 G. w. STANTON 3,007,264

RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 3, 1958 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

23 e rye 144574/1100 BY I Nov. 7, 196 G. w. STANTON RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 3, 1958 INVENTOR. Geo/7e Vl frafif i Nov. 7, 1961 e. w. STANTON 3,007,264

, RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE Filed Nov. a, 1958 s Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR. Gear ye M/ 51% "f Nov- 7, 1961 v s. w. STANTON 3,007,264

RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 3, 1958 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 42 E I A5? INVENTOR. Ml, S/afifan BYm//W G. w. STANTON RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE Nov. 7, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed Nov. 3, 1958 INVENTOR.

GEORGE W. STANTON Qty.

3,007,264 RAILROAD TRACK BALLAST DRESSING MACHINE George W. Stanton, 501 11th Ave., Mendota, Ill. Filed Nov. 3, 1958, Ser. No. 771,547 6 Claims. (Cl. 37--104) My invention relates to a railroad track ballast dressing machine. In the laying and maintenance of railroad track the ties are set in a bed of crushed stone. This crushed stone is the ballast. Experience has determined that for adequate support of the rails and to insure safety, the ballast needs to be filled in evenly to substantially the level of the tops of the ties between the rails and out to the ends of the ties, then sloped outward-1y and downwardly from the ends of the ties. It is the purpose of my invention to provide a machine that will travel along a freshly ballasted track and dress the ballast to the level of the tops of the ties and slope it beyond the ends of the ties, picking up any excess ballast while doing so.

It is also a purpose of my invention to provide a ballast dressing machine of the character described that is provided with dressing b-l'llSllfiS outside the rails, that when lowered, extend beyond the ends of the ties down on the shoulder of the track bed, and that folds up and inward within the width of the machine for transport along the railroad track.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide a ballast dressing machine with means cooperating with .the brushes to elevate excess ballast from the track bed while the dressing brushes are levelling the ballast and to store the excess ballast so it may be carried to a section of the track bed needing more ballast.

Another purpose of my invention is to provide the ballast dressing m-achine'with means to lift the dressing brushes and elevators up temporarily for passing over crossings, without the necessity of folding up the brushes etc.

The objects and advantages of my invention will appear more fully from the following description and the accompanying drawings which illustrate -a preferred form of my invention. It is obvious that structural changes may be made within the scope of my invention which is defined in the claims at the end of the description.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation of a railroad track ballast dressing machine embodying my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the front portion of the machine;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view similar to FIGURE 2,but showing the dressing brushes raised to prepare the machine for travel from one job to another;

FIGURE 4 is a front end view of the machine;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the machine taken substantially on the line 55 of FIG- URE l;

, FIGURE 6 is a front end view similar to FIGURE 4, but showing the brushes raised for passing over crossings;

FIGURE 7 is a side view looking at FIGURE 3 from the line 7--7;

' FIGURE 8 is a front end view of the machine with the brushes raised as in FIGURE 3 7 FIGURE 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 99 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 10- 10 of FIGURE 6; I

FIGURE I I is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 11-11 of FIGURE 10, showing only the frame members that guide the brush supports for vertical movement;

FIGURE 12 shows a bevel gear and shaft drive con- United States Patent 0 'ice nection that may be used instead of the chain drive connection to the front brush gear box;

FIGURE 13 shows a bevel gear drive connection that maybe used instead of the chain drive connection to the elevators for elevating ballast from the front brushes;

FIGURE 14 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 1414 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 15 is an enlarged plan sectional View taken on the line 1515 of FIGURE 9; and

FIGURE 16 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on the line 16-16 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to FIGURES l, 2 and 4 of the drawings, my invention is embodied in a ballast dressing machine which runs on rails 1 of a railroad track. The rails 1 are laid on cross ties 2. The cross ties are embedded in a track bed 3 which is usually composed of crushed stone. The track bed 3 should be substantially level with the tops of the ties 2 to the ends of the ties and should have shoulders 4 that incline downwardly away from the ends of the ties 2. The machine is supported by wheels 5 on axles 6.

A rear frame 7 supports a power unit 8 and a storage hopper 9 which has a bottom gate 10. A front frame 11 is bolted to the rear frame 7 at 12 so the two frames may be separated whenever that is desirable. The front frame 11 comprises a pair of rear uprights 13 and two forwardly extending horizontal rectangular frame members 14 and 15. Two front lower uprights 16 are supported on the front axle 6 and support the front end of member 15. A cross bar 17 connects the lower uprights 16. Two braces 18 extend diagonally upward and rearward from the lower portions of the uprights 16 and are fixed to the member 15 near its rear end. The braces 18 are connected to each other by a front cross piece 19 and a cross piece 20 near the rear ends of the braces 18. The front corners of the members 14 and 15 are connected to each other by channel shaped uprights 21. Along the sides of the members 14 and 15 there are four more channel shaped uprights 22, two on each side, connecting the member 14 to the member 15. These channel shaped uprights 22 serve to guide a vertically movable framework 23 which carries the dressing devices for dressing the ballast outside the rails 1.

The framework 23, shown best in FIGURES 9, 10 and 11, comprises two uprights 24 vertically slidable in the uprights 21, and four uprights 25 vertically slidable in the uprights 22. A top cross frame 26 connects all of the uprights 24 and 25 together above the frame member 14 and engages the member 14 to limit the downward movement of the uprights. Another cross frame 27 connects the uprights 24 and 25 together beneath the frame member 15 and serves to engage the member 15 to limit the upward movement of the uprights. A hydraulic jack 28 is supported on the cross piece 19 and has its piston rod 29 connected to the cross frame 27 so the jack 28 can iife the framework 23 and the parts supported thereby from the position shown in FIGURE 9 to the position shown in FIGURE 10.

In the rear portion of the frame 11 a bucket elevator 30 is mounted. This elevator includes a lower pan 31 that has a forwardly and upwardly inclined lip 32. This pan is supported from the frame member 15 by bars 33, and a back wall 34 that is secured to the rear uprights v13. -An axle 35 is supported by the pan 31. This axle mounts two side panels 36 and 37 for the bucket elevator. These panels 36 and 37 are joined together by a lower web 38, an intermediate web 39 and an upper web '40 to provide a framework for the moving chains 41 and buckets 42 of the conveyor 30. A spout 43 extends from the space within the side panels 36 and 37 down into the hopper 9 and has a lip 44 positioned to receive ballast from the buckets 42.

The chains 41 are trained about sprocket Wheels 45 rotatable on the axle 35 and sprocket wheels 46 which are secured to a shaft 47 that is journalled in bearings 48 and 49 mounted on the side panels 36 and 37. The shaft 47 has a bevel gear 50 at one end which is driven from the power unit 8. The drive connection from the power source to the gear 50 can be traced through a shaft 51, sprocket wheel and chain connection 52, shaft 53, sprocket wheel and chain connection 54, shaft 55, coupling 56, shaft 57, sprocket wheel and chain connection 58, shaft 59, bevel gears and 61, shaft 62, and bevel gear 63. A sleeve 64 mounted on the frame member 14 and the panel 36 supports the shaft 62.

The dressing brush 65 for the space between the rails 1 is covered by a hood 66 and is pivoted to the frame 11 by a cross rod 67 and a pair of arms 68 and 69. The hood has its ends 66a and 66b mounted on the arms so it can be readily replaced when it is worn out. The brush 65 is mounted on a shaft 70 that is journalled in hearings on arms 68 and 69 and is driven from the shaft 57 by the connecting means shown best in FIGURE 1. These means are a sprocket wheel and chain connection 71 from the shaft 57 to a shaft 72 mounted in bearings on the frame 11, a universal joint 73, an extensible shaft 74, a universal joint 75, a shaft 76 journalled in a bearing on the hood end 66a and bevel gears 77 and 78.

To lift and lower the brush 65 and its hood 66, a hydraulic jack 79 is connected to the cross piece 20 and to a cross piece 80 afiixed to the hood 66. The arms 68 and 69 are outside of the pan 31 and its supports so the hood can be lifted to the position shown in FIGURE 10, or lowered to the position shown in FIGURE 9 without any interference with the elevator 30. The brush 65 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIGURE 9 and throws excess ballast upwardly at the front and over the brush to direct the excess ballast over a partition plate 81 into the pan 31. The buckets 42 pick up the ballast and deliver it through the spout 43 into the hopper 9.

The dressing devices for that part of the track bed outside the rails 1 are mounted at the front of the machine and are arranged to deliver any excess ballast they have to pick up into a pair of bucket elevators 82 and 84 which have spouts 83 and 85 respectively that empty the excess ballast into fixed spouts 86 and 87 which direct the excess ballast to the pan 31 so that the elevator 30 can deliver it to the hopper 9. The construction of the two elevators 82 and 84 is generally similar to that of the elevator 30. The elevators have their housings 88 and 89 suspended on a shaft 90 for swinging movement. The shaft 90 drives the bucket chains 91 and 92 of the elevators 82 and 84. The shaft 90 is supported by bearings 93 and 94 on the movable framework 23. The shaft 90 is driven from the shaft 47 of the elevator 30 through a sprocket wheel 95 fixed on the shaft 47, a sprocket chain 96 and a sprocket wheel 97 on the shaft 90. The chain 96 is kept tight as the framework 23 is moved up by an idler 98 which is held against the chain 96 by a spring 99' that is secured to the frame member 15. The elevators 82 and 84 are turned on the shaft 90 from the operating position shown in FIGURE 1 to the travel position shown in FIGURE 7 by hydraulic jacks 100 and 101. These jacks are mounted on upstanding brackets 102 on the movable framework 23 and are connected to the elevators 82 and 84 by lever arms 103 and 104 fixed to the housings 88 and 89 of the elevators.

The dressing devices 105 and 106 for the part of the track bed outside the rails 1 are essentially alike and are similar to the dressing device 66 for the space between the rails 1. The device 105 has two brushes 107 and 108 and the device 106 has two brushes 109 and 110. The brushes 108 and 110 make the proper angles to the brushes 107 and 109 for sloping the shoulders 4 of the track bed. Housings 111 and 112 for the brushes have bearings 115 and 116 on their inner walls 113 and 114 for supporting brush shafts 117 and 118 that carry the brushes 107 and 4 109. A partition wall 120 supports a bearing 122 for the outer end of the shaft 118 (see FIGURE 5). A like partition wall 119 supports a bearing (not shown) for the outer end of shaft 117.

The brushes 108 and 110 are carried on shafts 123 and 124 that are connected by universal joints 125 and 126 to the shafts 117 and 118. Bearings 127 and 128 in the housings 111- and 112 support the outer end of the shaft 123 and 124. The inner end of shaft 123 is supported by a bearing 127a. A like bearing (not shown) supports the inner end of shaft 124. The interior construction of the housings 111 and 112 provide partition plates 129, 130, 131, and 132 over the respective brushes 107, 108, 109 and 110 to guide ballast picked up by the brushes rearwardly toward the elevators 82 and 84 in the same manner that the plate 81 in the brushing device 66 operates to guide ballast to the pan 31. There is a pan 133 at the rear of dressing device 105 and beneath the elevator 82 and a similar pan 134 at the rear of the dressing device 106 and beneath the elevator 84 (see FIGURE 2). These pans 133 and 134 are hinged to the uprights 25 so that they may be folded upward when the elevators 82 and 84 are swung back as illustrated in FIG- URE 7. Hinges 135 support the pan 133 and hinges 136 support the pan 134.

The plates 129, 130, 131 and 132 extend into the pans 133 and 134 as illustrated in FIGURE 2, so that the side walls 133a, 133b, 134a and 1341; fit against upstanding side flanges 130a, 129a, 132a and 131a provided on the plates to direct the ballast into the pans 133 and 134. This construction serves to interlock the dressing devices 105 and 106 with the pans 133 and 134 when these parts are in operative position.

Provision is made to drive the brush shafts 117 and 118 and through them, the brush shafts 123 and 124 from the powered shaft 57. As shown best in FIGURES 1, 2, 5 and 10, a sprocket wheel and chain connection 137 connects the shaft 57 to a shaft 138 which is journalled in a bearing 139 provided on a bracket 140 that is located between the uprights 16 and a bearing 141 that is mounted in a gear box 142. The gear box 142 and the bracket 140 are supported on a platform 143 that is carried by the uprights 24 of the frame 23. Inside the gear box 142, bevel gears 144 and 145 connect the shaft 138 to a cross shaft 146 which has coupling members 147 and 148 fixed on its ends to couple the shaft 138 to the shafts 117 and 118. The shafts 117 and 118 have polygonal end portions that seat in correspondingly shaped sockets in the members 147 and 148.

The uprights 24 also carry the housings 111 and 112 and the brushes therein. Upon each upright 24 an offset lever arm is pivoted. One lever arm 152 carries the housing 111, the other arm 153 carries the housing 112. A framework 154 is built up on the housing 111 and a bracket 155 is bolted to the framework 154 and to the arm .152. A similar framework 156 is built up on the housing 112 and a bracket 157 is bolted to the framework 156 and to the arm 153.

The arms 152 and 153 are swung up and down to move the housings 111 and 112 between the position shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 4 and the position shown in FIG- URES 3, 7 and 8 by two hydraulic jacks 158 and 159. The jack 158 has its piston rod 160 pivotally connected to the outer end of the arm 152. The jack 159 has its piston rod 161 pivotally connected to the outer end of the arm 153. The jacks 158 and 159 are carried by the brackets 102 on the movable frame 23. It is obvious that by use of the jacks 158 and 159 the housings 111 and 112 can be lifted from the operative positions to the positions shown in FIGURES 3, 7 and 8 and held there while the machine is being moved from one job to another.

The units 105 and 106 and the drive mechanism for the brushes 107-110 are carried on the movable framework 23. It is necessary therefore to have means to keep the sprocket chain 137a of the connection 137 tight when the framework 23 is lifted to the position shown in FIG- URE 1 0, for example. An idler sprocket 162 is used for this purpose. An arm 163, pivoted on the cross member 17 connecting the uprights 16, carries the sprocket 162. A spring 165 is connected from the arm 163 to the remote upright 16. The spring 165 is under tension at all times so it keeps the sprocket chain 137a tight.

In FIGURES 12 and 13 are illustrated extensible shaft connections that may be substituted for the sprocket and chain connections from the shaft 57 to the shaft 138 and from the shaft 47 to the shaft 90. 111 FIGURE 12 the shaft 57 is shown as provided with a gevel gear 166 that meshes with a bevel gear 167 on a short shaft 168 that is jonrnalled in a bearing 169 on the upright 16. The shaft 138 has bevel gear 170 meshing with a bevel gear 171 on a short shaft 172, that is jou-rnalled in a bearing 173 on the adjacent upright 24. The shafts 168 and 172 are connected by two universal joints 174 and 175 and telescoping shaft sections 176 and 177.

The construction shown in FIGURE 13 embodies a bevel gear 178 on the shaft 47, a short shaft 179 having a bevel gear 180 engaged with the gear 178, a bearing 181 for the shaft 179, an universal joint 182 connecting the shaft 179 with the large section 183 of an extensible shaft, a universal joint 185 connecting the small section 184 of the extensible shaft, a short shaft 186 mounted in a bearing 187 on the framework 23, and connected to the joint 185, a bevel gear 188 on the shaft 186, and a bevel gear 189 on the shaft 90. These alternate connecting means obviously can be used in place of the sprocket wheel and chain connections if desired.

My ballast dressing machine operates to brush the ballast between the rails 1 and remove excess ballast down substantially to the tops of the cross ties 2. It also brushes the ballast to the same level outside the rails 1 to the ends or the ties 2, and, it brushesthe shoulders 4 to the desired slope. All this is done in one trip over the track. The excess ballast outside the tracks is picked up by the dressing devices 105 and 106 and thrown over the plates 129-132, into the pans 133 and 134. This excess ballast is elevated by elevators 82 and 84 and delivered by these elevators to the pan 31 of the elevator 30'. The pan 31 also receives the excess ballast from the dressing device 66 between the nails 1. The elevator 30 delivers all of the excess ballast into the hopper 9.

When the dressing machine arrives at a crossing the dressing devices 66, 105 and 106 are lifted by the jacks 79 and 28 to the position shown in FIGURE 10. The machine can pass over the crossing and be restored to operating position with a minimum of delay. For travel on the railroad the dressing device 66 between the tracks is held up by the jack 79. The outer dressing devices 105 and 106 are folded up to the position shown in FIGURES 3 and 8 by the jacks 158 and 159 and the pans 133 and 134 are turned up against the uprights 25 and secured in place.

It is believed that the nature and advantages of my invention will be understood from the foregoing description.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A railroad track ballast dressing machine comprising a framework having supporting wheels adapted to run on the rails of the railroad track, a first ballast dress ing device carried by said framework, positioning means operatively connected to said first ballast dressing device adapted to vertically position said first ballast dressing device on said framework between the rails on which said wheels run, said first ballast dressing device comprising a rotatable brush, drive means operatively connected to said brush adapted to rotate said brush in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said wheels, first pan means mounted on said framework rearwardly adjacent to said rotatable brush adapted to receive excess ballast from the brush, a hood located adjacent to and above said brush adapted to direct excess ballast from said brush to said first pan means, and first elevator means mounted on said framework having its lower end positioned in said first pan means and adapted to elevate ballast deposited in said first pan means by said brush, second and third ballast dressing devices carried by said framework on both sides thereof outside the wheels, each of said second and third ballast dressing devices comprising an outer rotatable shoulder brush and a rotatable brush between the shoulder brush and the wheels, drive means operatively connected to the brushes of said second and third ballast dressing devices adapted to rotate said brushes in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the wheels, second pan means mounted on the framework rearwardly adjacent .to the brushes of said second and third ballast dressing devices adapted to receive excess ballast from said brushes, a housing located adjacent to and above said brnshes adapted to direct excess ballast from said brushes to said second pan means, and second elevator means on the framework extending into said second pan means adapted to elevate ballast deposited in said second pan means by said brushes.

2. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said second and third ballast dressing devices are suspended on the framework for vertical movement to clear crossings.

3. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said second and third ballast dressing devices are carried on levers pivotally supported on said framework to swing upwardly and toward each other.

4. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said second and third ballast dressing devices are suspended on the framework for vertical movement, and are also pivotally supported on the framework to swing upwardly and toward each other over the wheels.

5. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said second pan means comprises a first side pan located rearwardly of said second ballast dressing device and a second side pan located rearwardly of said third ballast dressing device, each of said side pans being hinged to the frame and adapted to swing up and toward each other.

6. The invention defined in claim 5 wherein said second elevator means comprises first and second side elevators having their lower ends extending into said first and second side pans respectively, and being swingably mounted on the framework for movement out of their respective side pans.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 750,852 Hart Feb. 2, 1904 947,963 Cable Feb. 1, 1910 972,058 Chisholm Oct. 4, 1910 2,505,501 Miller et a1. Apr. 25, 1950 2,777,220 Bates Jan. 15, 1957 2,834,034 Angeli May 13, 1958 2,869,159 Kershaw Jan. 20, 1959 

